Hi,
Would skipping Mass for a non-serious injury (like a swollen eye, sprained ankle, etc.) be considered a just reason for missing our Sunday obligation, assuming these injuries didn’t prevent us from arriving safely to and from Mass? (Let’s say transportation could be provided if needed.)

You’re really the only one who can answer that. (Or a priest.) There are medical reasons why missing mass might be excused, but it depends on how debilitating the injury or illness is for the patient. It would definitely have to be serious enough that you did not attend any other events on that day such as sports, parties, movies, shopping trips, etc.

Probably not. Would said injury be a just cause to miss our employment obligations if we, say, worked at a desk job? With a sprained ankle we can just sit instead of standing and kneeling and with a swollen eye we don’t have to read the hymnal, just listen.

Probably not. Would said injury be a just cause to miss our employment obligations if we, say, worked at a desk job? With a sprained ankle we can just sit instead of standing and kneeling and with a swollen eye we don’t have to read the hymnal, just listen.

Hi,
Would skipping Mass for a non-serious injury (like a swollen eye, sprained ankle, etc.) be considered a just reason for missing our Sunday obligation, assuming these injuries didn’t prevent us from arriving safely to and from Mass? (Let’s say transportation could be provided if needed.)

Hi,
Would skipping Mass for a non-serious injury (like a swollen eye, sprained ankle, etc.) be considered a just reason for missing our Sunday obligation, assuming these injuries didn’t prevent us from arriving safely to and from Mass? (Let’s say transportation could be provided if needed.)

Thanks!

if your eye is swollen because of something like pink eye, then you should be visiting a Dr and get it treated. the injuries you mentioned are not serious enough to prevent anyone from attending Mass. If your ankle is that swollen that you can’t step on it, then you probably need to be visiting the ER to have it checked. I think instead of focussing on excuses to get out of Mass, you should focus on your need and desire to go to Mass no matter what and only the most serious of situations are excused. Just having a swollen eye or sprained ankle in it of it self should not be preventing you from attending and if they are such magnitude then go to the nearest ER.

Hi,
Would skipping Mass for a non-serious injury (like a swollen eye, sprained ankle, etc.) be considered a just reason for missing our Sunday obligation, assuming these injuries didn’t prevent us from arriving safely to and from Mass? (Let’s say transportation could be provided if needed.)

You said that transportation could be provided, so you should in conscience go.
I had a badly torn calf muscle and could barely hobble, but the priest asked someone to transport me to Mass for the several weeks before I recovered and returned to walking to Mass. You can rest the injury before and after Mass, and be sensible how you sit at Mass.

I would use this criteria: Would you go anywhere else on Sunday with the injuries you have? If you would go someplace else, then you could go to Mass.

That’s the criteria I use for both injuries and illness. It’s a reasonably good litmus test (with the caveat that going for medical treatment doesn’t count as a “someplace else”)

My experience has also been that if you can’t quite manage to go up for Communion after getting to Mass, someone can/will bring the Eucharist to you–just advise an usher or your priest that you need this assistance (I had a broken ankle a few years ago, some of the people in my parish using walkers ask for this, others go up, so you just have to decide which way works best for you. With my broken ankle, I sat up at the very front and went up for Communion, but I made sure to get there plenty early so that I could maneuver up the aisle to my seat before too many people were there because I was really slow moving and didn’t want to hold anyone else up (not that there was really any competition for the front row).